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Secret Lives of Musicians

Secret Lives is the only novel I've published using a pen name. (My middle name is Emmett and my mother's middle name was Orlaine. Hence, Emmett Orlaine.) But this is not a book about music. It's a collection of stories about musicians from different eras who find themselves in international, desperate, and often life-threatening situations and how they improvise and think on their feet to survive. It's a cultural time capsule, it's funny, and it's available for all eBook formats anywhere in the world—and only $4.99.

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Secret Lives of Musicians

By Emmett Orlaine

The lion's share of a musician's life is devoted to playing music and most of what's left is spent on music-related activities—but not all of it. There's still some time remaining that's spent away from this musical preoccupation—and that's when musicians live their secret lives. These are stories from those secret lives.

The musicians in these four stories vary in age, style, experience, and proficiency. They come from different parts of the country, were raised under disparate circumstances, and have dissimilar educations. Most, but not all, are professional—meaning music is their main source of income. None are rich or famous. All are gifted, none excessively. Half of them sing and half are composers. Their goals differ and some are more driven than others. But they do have one thing in common: They play the guitar.

But these are not stories about chords and amps and the biz. These are stories from their private lives, their secret lives, stories about a shipwreck, drug smugglers, corrupt cops, shady politicians, international intrigue, exotic women, several hurricanes, arrest warrants and manhunts, midnight escapes, jails and jungles, stranded on a tropical beach, driving all night, driving cross country, driving an out-of-control vehicle down the side of a mountain, date drugs, Southern mansions, modern theater, sexual assault, a catastrophic flood, true friends, true love, and that's not all.